


the spirit still rattles — an alternate

by clarksibs



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Character Death, F/F, but they're called shifters, everyone else is there too, the costia/clarke/lexa takes a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-15 20:08:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11813310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarksibs/pseuds/clarksibs
Summary: All is silent as they tread through the brush, paws barely making a sound, when a scream pierces the air. The party’s hackles raise in unison, small growls are pulled from the muzzles of the pups padding behind them. The elders of the group freeze, wary looks pass between them. The scream came from a human which means they’re walking into a situation far more dangerous than just a pack of Twisted.Or — Clarke and Lexa find a wounded Costia in the woods and nurse her back to health.... While accidentally falling for her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This is my first time posting on ao3 instead of tumblr so it may take some for me to figure out how everything works. Please be patient.
> 
> Playlist:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/caztg678/playlist/1Xd6uqhfsoxKkqyvgUAV8V

July 2017

 

It’s late and the hunting party is tired. They’ve been running through the forest for hours now, only stopping to tear apart the odd lone warped creature. There’s a pack somewhere out here, though, they can all feel it. The hive like structure of their minds calls out to the group of Shifters.

 

The air is beginning to chill, summer is leaving them slowly and dragging them into fall. It’s well past midnight and the only source of light is the stray beams of moonlight that are able to squeeze between the thick overhead. Anyone without their strong sight would be helpless to the world around them.

 

Clarke glances in Lexa’s direction, clocking her and then looking over to Bellamy, Aden, and Viv. A constant need to keep her packmates safe grips her heart. One day it will probably be her downfall, but she doesn’t dally on that. She has a job to do. It’s rare that Clarke and Lexa are allowed to hunt outside of the compound, especially together, fear of their death holds every member of the pack ill at ease. This time of year though, it can’t be helped. The newest crop of nightbloods are soon to fulfil the last of their training and they need to oversee their progress.

 

The group keeps moving in formation, noses held high as a breeze carries through the trees. As one, they change their route accordingly when a gust of their enemies scent comes from the north. Bellamy’s hulking black form comes into view on her right. She knows this makes his skin crawl. Having to simultaneously carry out his role as they’re Shield and yet also protect the pups and oversee their training. If he could speak right now he’d probably grumble something about too many eggs in a basket with holes. If it were up to him, Clarke and Lexa would never be allowed out of their house. Neither would their daughters. All of this is far too stressful.

 

All is silent as they tread through the brush, paws barely making a sound when a scream pierces the air. The party’s hackles raise in unison, small growls are pulled from the muzzles of the pups padding behind them. The elders of the group freeze, wary looks pass between them. The scream came from a human which could mean that they’re walking into a situation far more dangerous than just a pack of Twisted.

 

Lexa’s the one to move first. Pushing to the lead as her strong legs carry her into a run. Clarke sends a warning growl to the pups behind her, telling them to _stay close_ , to _not take risks_ , and then she’s following her mate. She easily matches her speed and once again they’re side by side, the others right behind them.

 

The tall Georgia pines fly by them as they soar over fallen logs and around thick brambles. It’s only a few seconds later when they burst into a clearing to find three overgrown Twisted. Their bodies warp and mangle in unnatural ways. One has two muzzles, or it could be one that had been split down the middle. It’s ribs curve in on one side so it has to move at an angle. The second has six legs but it’s neck is twisted so it has to look sideways at the group of intruders. The third looks vaguely normal but it’s easy to hear it’s second heart beating a rapid pattern with their trained ears.

 

Clarke drags her eyes over every weakness, determines exactly where she would strike them each one of them, and only then does she let her eyes fall to the woman that lays behind them. She’s still and seemingly unconscious but Clarke can hear her heart beating—- which is almost a bad thing considering how much blood it’s pumping out of her and onto the forest floor.

 

No sort of plan is spoken between them, not even a sideways glance, but still, they leap towards the creatures as one. Terrible roars fill the clearing as they meet. Jaws and nails tear through flesh. Clarke and Lexa have the six legged beast to the floor before the other’s have a strong grasp on theirs. Together they work at ripping out his throat, a horrid task considering his blood tastes like acid. With one final tug, the pair yanks apart his jowl, spraying both of their white coats with gore.

 

Bellamy defeats his own opponent not long after, going for the weak side of it’s ribs with a harsh jab of his own skull, effectively crushing the organs residing in it's chest. Aden and Viv have theirs corned by the time any of them look in their direction. It seems as though it had tried to run but by the discarded tail and pitiful whining it’s safe to assume one of them had stopped it.

 

Clarke grunts towards Bellamy, _watch them_ , before turning towards the injured human. With Lexa close behind her, she approaches carefully, her steps slow and cautious. The ancient Spirit tells her that allowing herself to be shown to a human can only bring her species harm but the woman raised by a healer that has three children at home can’t help but want to help her.

 

Through the bond she shares with her mate, she can tell Lexa is feeling the same draw.

 

Nervously, she presses her nose into the woman’s shoulder with a low whine as if to wake her. It was a long shot, she knew. The amount of blood she’d lost was most likely terminal, if she was going to survive she was going to need immediate attention. Clarke’s careful eyes scan over her body, setting on the deep bite above her hip and the long cut on her leg.

 

Clarke drags her gaze away from the maimed human and up to Lexa. Their eyes lock as they pass feelings and notions back and forth between them. _It’s against the law_. _It would be wrong to not help her_. _They could never hide her_. _The Goddess would want them to show compassion_.

 

Just as the last peal of sound is dragged out of the now lifeless Twisted, Clarke’s form goes from that of a large white wolf to a naked human like body, skin still vibrating softly. Blue eyes do one more sweep of the human before she heaves a heavy breath and turns on the others.

 

“Bellamy, take them home and then meet us at the manor,” her tone leaves no room for disagreement. It’s the voice of an alpha and that of the Spirit. But then, with a small nod and pleading look, “Please, Bells.”

 

He eyes her as if yearning to question what she plans to do, why she’s sending him away, but he knows better. If he needed to know, he would know. He has to believe that whatever they’re doing, it’s the right thing. With a sharp bark, he ushers the young nightbloods back towards the front gates of the compound. Aden looks between his mentor and his cousins twice before lowering his maw and whining sullenly but follows the order nonetheless.

 

Once they’re out of sight and no longer can be considered involved in their breaking of the law, Clarke turns to Lexa.

 

“Are we really doing this?” Her eyes are full of questions she’s too scared to ask. “I need to know you’re in too.”

 

Lexa studies her for a moment and then looks back to the dying woman on the ground. There isn’t much time to deliberate, so she doesn’t waste anymore. With a choppy nod of her head, she agrees.

 

With her assent, Clarke stoops and pulls the unconscious woman into her arms. She rights herself easily and adjusts her weight so that when she begins to run, she’s not jostled too much.

 

Behind her, she can feel Lexa shift from her wolf form and dash to join her. Nerves fill the air around them. Though this may not affect their standing within their own pack, news of them allowing an unaffiliated human into their pack’s home can only cause strife that neither of them wants to deal with. Not now. The hidden world held together by their species has been tense, wars have begun to break out through Europe and whispers of their Northern cousins plotting against them have begun to weave their way to Arkadia. Upsetting the balance could mean destruction.

 

They do not speak until they reach the section of wall that resides on the outside of their property. There’s a door there that only they and the council knows about, one that’s only to be used if their lives are in danger and they need to escape the compound. When Clarke’s great-great-great-great grandfather installed it this probably wasn’t how he was expecting it to be used.

 

“Well,” Lexa whispers, “any plans on how to get by the ten guards between here to the house? Because I’ve got nothing.”

 

Blood that is not her own drips down Clarke’s abdomen, the human doesn’t have long.

 

“I have an idea but it’s kind of shitty and might not actually work.” She shifts from side to side as she weighs the idea in her mind. “I give it a forty percent chance, honestly.”

 

Lexa glares at her mate for a second longer before rolling her eyes and wrenching the hidden stone door open. The shifter on the other side twirls to face them, gun already taking aim. A moment of recognition crosses his face just before a growl that only someone that holds the Spirit within them could produce hits him. Jax, Clarke’s swimming mind puts a name to the face, collapses immediately. Body going limp and then falling backwards.

 

As she steps over his prone form Lexa glances up towards the dark sky, “Gods forgive us—- And sorry Jax.”

  


In the manor’s basement lies a sterile operating room that is rarely used, and when it is it's because a member of the council has been gravely injured. Even if he couldn't smell them down there it would have been easy to follow the trail of blood that acts as bread crumbs down the stairs. Bellamy quickly makes his way down to the bottom level and through the maze of rooms and hidden panels, a grumble leaving his mouth as he shakes his head. Why were they always pulling him into their schemes? Not that he’d ever actually refuse.

 

When he pushes into the room his eyes first land on Clarke. She’s changed into a now blood stained tank top and a pair of cotton shorts, her long hair thrown into a messy bun so to keep it from out of her face. Lexa’s in a similar state, the shirt she wears hangs loosely from her shoulders and reads ‘Arkadia High Athletics’. He's pretty sure that if she turned around the back would have ‘Reyes’ written across the top. They’re both barefoot and looking a more than a little frazzled.

 

The human lies on the table in the center of the room. Her clothes have been cut away and replaced with strategically placed sheets to protect her modesty, humans aren’t as comfortable with nudity as they are. Wires extend from her body and stream out behind her to the beeping monitors. Most of the blood has been wiped away, somehow making her wounds look even worse. He knows Lexa and Clarke must know he's there, they're not careless enough to not be paying attention to their surroundings, but they don't look up from their work until he speaks.

 

“So we're really doing this?” His hands are on his hips, brows pinching together in his signature Bellamy Blake Thinks This Is A Bad Idea look. “Gods. We’re all going to get into so much trouble, you realize that right?”

 

Clarke finishes placing an iv hooked up to a blood bag—- It smells like shifter blood but he doesn’t bother mentioning that that could potentially be bad for her. “We,” she gestures between Lexa and herself, “can’t get in trouble for anything. No one’s in charge of us. As for you, were you with us when we brought her here? Were Aden and Viv? No. Thus you can't be held responsible. You're simply fulfilling your duty as our Shield by helping us now.” She pulls focus from Bellamy and back to her patient. “Well? Are you going to help?”

 

Lexa flashes him a sympathetic smile. If anyone knows how hard to resist Clarke’s will is, it’s her.

 

“Fine,” he groans as if he weren’t already in the moment he stepped foot in their house. “Fuck it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two! I hope you guys like it ♡

April 2017

  
"Well my dear," Clarke joins her eldest daughter on her bed, pulling her close, "what will tonight's story be?"

  
Her hair is still damp from her shower, sleep shorts on under a shirt she knows didn't start out by belonging to her. She always feels so much younger when she's in this room, the one she grew up in. Clarke knows all of it's secret, all of the loose floorboards and hidden wall panels. Part of her cannot wait until Charlotte is old enough to discover them for her own, make this room truly hers, but that would mean that she was that much closer to taking the mantel. And she would never wish that upon her.

  
"Can you tell me about Rebekka again?" Her little face turns up towards Clarke, a seemingly nostalgic look in her clear blue eyes. This one is her favorite, the one she asks for above all others.

  
Clarke laughs softly but nods her approval. She opens her mouth to begin only to be interrupted by Lexa padding into the room.

  
"Okay, they're down." She joins the others on the bed, crawling up to them from the end so she can lie on her front and watch Clarke weave her tale. When Clarke pauses to let her speak again, assuming there's more than that, Lexa waves her hand impatiently. Apparently excited for the story as well.

  
She pauses for a moment, gathering her thoughts and determining where to begin. With a quiet hum, she starts.

  
"Rebekka was born many, many years ago in a quiet village in the home country. Nothing much happened there. The men would go off to raid and the women raised their children and tended their lands. It was peaceful—- and it was boring.

  
"Rebekka yearned for more, for a sense of purpose. Her thoughts were so loud and her soul so filled with longing that the Goddess heard her pleas. She had already spent many centuries looking for the right creature to bestow upon the gift she had been crafting. A way for a new life, for a new species. Better than the one made before she came to these shores. She saw the flaws that burdened the humans and how it would diminish them for as long as they should exist. They wouldn't be perfect, no certainly not. All must struggle, all must battle a darkness. That is the way of the world. But gone would be their weak bodies, gone would be their fumbling minds. Gone would be the hatred for love and for the bodies they held.

  
"It hurt her so to wait for so long to allow her children to flourish, but she needed the right person to come to be before she could. Someone that loved immensely and yet knew of the worlds hurts and wished to heal them. Someone who could command all those below them and still hold their adoration. Such a person was hard to come by until," Clarke pauses as she draws out the suspense, sending a wink towards Lexa before finishing, "Rebekka was born.

  
"The Goddess kept watch over her through her childhood, pulled her from trouble and kept her safe. She pointed her in this direction and that in hopes of building her to be the person she knew she was. The night before her fifteenth birthday was the first time she spoke to her though. She whispered her visions into the young girl's mind, showed her what they could do together if she gave her assent. She did, of course. It was not long after that that the change began.

  
"Her body shivered and writhed. Her skin grew warm and slick with sweat. But she never once panicked for the Goddess held vigil within her mind, soothing her through every moment. Just before her human form gave way to her true one, the Goddess placed the Spirit between her ribs. She murmured that it would guide her, show her right from wrong, that when their people grew and thrived that it would keep her, and her heirs, at the helm. And then she shifted."

  
"What about her kids?" Charlotte piped up, suddenly coming out of her reserve. "She had kids and a mate."

  
"Yes she did," Lexa replies, seamlessly taking over for Clarke. "She spent many years alone, wandering through the forests of her homeland, easily keeping to her self. But she became curious of the villages surrounding her, wished to once again be around people. So she began to venture out. That is how she met Brom.

  
"He was kind and gentle and accepting of all she was. Never once did he balk at her true form, that of a giant white wolf. He pledged himself to her and they were happy for some time. Eventually though, hiding from the humans became troublesome and Rebekka was forced to once more retreat into the woods. Brom insisted on going with her, on joining their lives forever."

  
"And she gave him the bite?" The young girl between them questioned, though they both know she already knew the answer.

  
"Yes," Lexa replies, "She bit him not long after. And soon, their children came. Ove their oldest and then Elva and Bjorn. It took time but they all found mate's and year after year the species grew. Now we're here, and you and your sisters."

  
"Do you think she was happy?" Charlotte tucks herself deeper into her mother's form, eyes drooping softly. Already being tugged into slumber.

  
"I think she was very happy, she certainly deserved to be," Clarke answers in a whisper, a sad smile tugging at her lips.

 

October 2007

 

"—- We send our deepest regards and our unwavering support. Again, if there is anything our pack can do for your family or the Arkadian pack, please do reach out—- It's the same as all of the others." Lexa places the letter beside her on the grass and tips her head back so it rests against the oak they're sitting beneath.

  
Clarke remains silent, she hasn't spoken more than necessary for days. She stares blankly at the fields that gently roll across her family's—- her property. It doesn't seem real, not yet. To lose them both so close together, she can't grasp it. Her father dying was hard enough but at least she was able to mourn him in her own way, now that Grandpa Griffen is gone her entire life has changed.

  
No longer is she, and Lexa, training to rule their species, now they're truly on the throne. It seems cruel that she should lose both of her teachers just as she needs them the most. There are so many questions she hadn't known to ask until they were gone, so many stories she knows she'll never hear.

  
Clarke chuckles darkly and allows her head to fall forward and be caught by her hands. Her shoulders shake as her laughter turns to hushed sobs. She's not ready for any of this. They're seventeen, they're children. How can anyone expect them to watch over an entire species?

  
She feels an arm wind around her shoulders and she allows herself to be pulled into Lexa's chest. They stay that way until many hours have passed. Silently grieving over the loss of a father and a grandfather, an alpha and a spirit.

  
In the distance a sorrowful howl rips through the quiet night, they're not the only ones that miss them.

 

July 2017

 

It takes hours to work through all of her wounds, patch up the long gash on her leg and thoroughly disinfect the bite. It won't change her, Twisted aren't infectious, but they carry Gods know how much grime and bacteria in their mouths. Clarke spent more time than probably necessary poking and prodding at the already tender flesh in an attempt to get it as clean as possible.

 

They ran into a speed bump when it came to the pain meds. Shifters burn through normal medications so they have to up the dose to the point that if it was administered to a human, they would quickly die. Lexa had to spend ten minutes googling what they should give her, bickering with Clarke over the top of her phone that _yes, she's sure._

 

"So," Bellamy starts, leaning his weight against the operating table with his palms spread wide, "are we going to talk about how to broach this subject with the rest of the council? No way this stays secret for long, I could smell her the moment I stepped inside."

 

Clarke keeps her eyes on the line she's adjusting, pushing another dose of the sedative. Honestly, she doesn't know how to reply. While it's true that they technically can't get in trouble for any of their actions, that doesn't mean they can't be reprimanded. Their lives could quickly become very tedious.

 

It's Lexa that responds. As usual, one speaks for both.

 

"We're not sure yet, Bells." They're not, honest. "Neither of us thought further than 'We need to help this innocent creature,' truly."

 

They both know that they need to come up with a next step. Preferably before the three sleeping girls two stories above them wake up and begin to wonder why there's an odd smelling blood trail leading into the basement. The only way to get ahead of this is to actually get ahead of it.

 

"I'm going to call Mama," Clarke says matter of factly, a sharp nod to her head and a strong set of her shoulders as she finally pulls her eyes from the human. "We're going to tell her exactly what happened and why we made the executive decision to bring her into the compound and how we were alone in this choice. If the council doesn't like it, that's their problem."

 

She watches Bellamy open his mouth to speak but she quiets him with a glare. Clarke's not going to let him throw himself into the fire just to protect the two of them. They're big girls now.

 

"You left because you were ordered to," Lexa reminds him. "No one will be able to fault you for that."

 

She paces through the room for a moment when they all fall silent, thinking of the upset to come. The only sounds in the room are her bare feet on the cold tile and the beeping from the monitors. Lexa gets through three circles before opening her mouth again.

 

"The next thing we need to worry about is her." She points towards the unconscious human, the one causing them so much trouble. "What are we going to tell her? She may not have seen us but she definitely saw the Twisted, she's going to have questions. And then—- Why didn't we take her to a hospital or a real doctor?" Clarke gasps in a mock show of offense, her hand pressed to her chest. "Sorry, Clarke," Lexa rolls her eyes but smiles affectionately.

 

"Xenny's right we need—- Damn." Bellamy curses as he pulls out his vibrating phone, turning it so they can see Raven's name blinking across the screen. "I gotta take this." He's halfway out the door before turning back to ask, "Can I tell her or should I—-" His eyes beg them not to make him lie to his mate.

 

Clarke and Lexa lock eyes for the shortest of seconds, no he should tell her.

 

"Let her know what's going on, she'll know soon enough anyway." Lying to Raven is like lying to a viper, you won't regret it because you feel bad but because she'll probably cause you physical pain.

 

"Oh," Clarke adds quickly, "and can you see if she can come get the girls? We're probably about to turn into a madhouse and I want them out of the way. She can take them to one of my cousins' if she needs to come here with the council."

 

Bellamy nods quickly and then disappears into the hallway.

 

The room settles quietly for several moments as they work to begin cleaning up the discarded rags and droplets of blood. The pair easily maneuvers around one another as only those that have spent a lifetime moving in tandem could. Whispered worries pass between the link. More so for the human than for themselves. There's no guaranty that she'll ever recover from such an assault she could have lost too much blood, they could have made a mistake in her treatment. She could have a reaction to the Shifter blood they pumped into her.

 

"So," Lexa hums with a tiredly amused smirk on her face, "we brought home a stray."

 

Clarke giggles and drops her head into her, previously cleaned, hands. She's exhausted. "Yeah, I guess we did. Adopt don't shop, you know?"

 

Lexa scrunches up her nose, sure that Clarke doesn't actually have a clue what she's saying. The long hunt and hours on her feet bent over their ward are starting to show. With a silent chuckle, she moves to her mate's side, already opening her arms for Clarke to fall into. She happily tucks herself into her chest, pressing her nose into Lexa's neck.

 

Bellamy finds them like that when he returns five minutes later, shoving his phone back into his pocket. He doesn't comment because it's honestly nothing new to find them wrapped around each other, usually they're naked.

 

"First off, Raven wanted me to thank you because apparently she and O have had a running bet about when you would do something to royally piss off the council and I guess she won." Clarke and Lexa playfully, yet indignantly, growl but he carries on as if he hadn't heard. "She'll be by in a bit to get the little Griffins and she's going to take them to Atticus' but she wants to come back after."

 

"Okay," Clarke sluggishly pulls away from Lexa and snags her cell from an instrument tray. "Time to pull the trigger."

 

As she pulls up her mother's information and hits dial, her eyes drift to the unconscious woman. A voice revolves through her mind over and over telling her that helping someone can never be the wrong choice—- and then her mother answers and she's once again hit with worry.

 

"Clarke it's five am." Comes her mother's groggy voice, speaking before she even has a chance to. Pulling the phone from her ear she looks at them time. Fuck. "Is everyone all right?" The tone of rising panic hits her and she tries to use her most soothing voice when she replies.

 

"Sorry I didn't realize. But—- uhm we're all fine, yeah. There is something I need to tell you, though. First I need you to promise that you won't yell."

 

She bites her lip and locks eyes with Lexa, sheepishly shrugging her shoulders.

 

"What did the two of you do?" Abby Griffin suddenly sounds completely awake.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again! Thank you guys for all of the kudos and comments! They really brighten up my day

July 2017

  
"I hope you're ready to lay into some elders because they're not happy," Octavia says as she and Lincoln push through the front doors of Griffin Manor and make their way into the kitchen where the rest of the Delinquents are waiting. "I've already gotten three calls about how this could affect us when court opens."

  
The oversized kitchen is filled with young shifters, Abby Griffin, and Serena Woods, each holding onto a coffee cup as if it were a lifeline. Abby looks as if she wants to scold the newest addition but holds back on account of the fact that—- she's unfortunately right.

  
Clarke sets her mug on the counter and whirls around to face the others again, throwing her hands up and scoffing. Dark circles line her eyes, it's obvious she hasn't slept. "What did they expect us to do? Just shrug and say, 'not our species, not our problem!' Because sorry but that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

  
"What you both did was very brave," Lincoln assures her, a soothing tone to his voice. "Saving another's life is always commendable, they'll have to see that."

  
Clarke shoots him a grateful look but does not speak again, content to lean against the granite and study her now flats clad feet.

  
Lexa stands in the corner and murmurs to Monty, Jasper, and Miller, once again recounting how they found the human. Monty asks the question that's been ringing through Clarke and Lexa's minds since they stumbled upon her.

  
"What was a human doing so close to the wall?"

  
Clarke glances up and meets Lexa's eyes for a hint of a second before returning her focus to the floor. They would certainly like to know that as well.

  
"By the way you owe me fifty bucks," Raven whispers to O as she sidles up to her brother and his mate. Her words are followed by what sounds like an elbow meeting flesh and a muffled _oomph_. If Clarke looked up she knows she'd see Raven glaring at Bellamy.

 

  
The walls are lined with dark wooden bookshelves filled with leather bound books. Some are stories of old, recountings of their species growth and trials. Others are ledgers filled with the name and bloodline and pack affiliation of every shifter ever born. The room is windowless and lies deep within the manor. A large, chair-less war table stretches through the room, maps and discarded tomes and blueprints cover its surface. As long as Clarke's lived within these walls she's never seen this table without papers strewn across it. Her grandfather used to say that it would always be a work in progress.

  
Members of Arkadia's council have found places around it, each holding differing looks of frustration and, in some, worry. Most just look annoyed though. Every person in the room seems to be speaking, trying to argue their opinion, their thoughts on how to proceed.

  
Some bare their teeth and protest why the Spirits were even out of the compound, why they were even given the opportunity to make such a decision. Others stamp their boots and yell back that the human is not their problem, that she should be driven out of the compound and left to her own devices. Even still, others growl in response and tell them to have a heart, that leaving her would be murder.

  
This goes on for thirty minutes until the petty bickering becomes too much and Lexa and Clarke see fit to put a stop to it. They stand on opposite ends of the room, seemingly ignoring all those around them, they haven't spoken since they went over the night's events after the study's doors were bolted. Preferring to allow all within its walls to show their hands, better to know what they are dealing with.

  
Just after Thelonious finishes his statement about the Azgeda finding out Clarke and Lexa's palms simultaneously slam onto the table, a growl strong enough to cause several ledgers to tumble from the top shelves tears through the room. Suddenly, all is silent. They fix each shifter in turn with a withering look, some even let out pained mews and take a half step back.

  
"This is not up for discussion—-" Clarke begins.

  
"-— We have made the decision—-" Lexa continues, on and on until they finish their thought.

  
"-— She will stay here until she is well enough to return to the outer world."

  
"-— Until then, she is not to be threatened or sought after—-"

  
"-— or disturbed in any way." Clarke pushes away from the table and straightens, on the other side Lexa does the same. "We have witnessed many disappointments here today, do not think they will soon be forgotten. I would suggest that each of you reflect on how you spoke before your Alphas and the hosts of the Spirit."

  
"The Gods cannot be pleased to see so many run scared at the thought of a human within our walls. Are we not strong? Are we not able? Are we not sympathetic towards the aches of the world? Would you truly turn your backs on someone in need? If so, I suggest you leave and not return until you've found a new way of thinking." Lexa holds her head high, chin tipped up. No one moves, few dare to even suck in a nervous breath.

  
"The Goddess made us to be better," Clarke adds, voice now hauntingly low, "we expect _you_ to be better."

  
The room is completely silent for a long stretch of moments, the only movement that catches her eyes is the Blake siblings sending her a wink over their mother's shoulders from where they stand down the table. Before she can speak to release the council from their home, her phone vibrates in her pocket. With an annoyed sigh, she pulls it out and unlocks it, immediately seeing a text from Roan, Prince of Azgeda.

  
Her stomach drops as she presses on the flashing icon, already knowing what it's going to say. Without allowing any emotion to cross her face she reads and then with a flick of her wrist sends the phone flying across the room and into Lexa's waiting hands. The message reads 'She knows.' but that's enough to make both women lock eyes, statue still for longer still. With a wave of their hands, they're suddenly dismissing all but the Delinquents.

  
It takes a moment for everyone to shuffle out, appropriately ashamed masks covering their features. A few cousins and two of her uncles squeeze Clarke's hand as they pass her. Brom, Aden's father and her eldest cousin, smiles at her widely as if he were brimming with pride after the show of power.

  
When they hear the last of the shifters move out of the front door of the house, everyone visibly sags.

  
"That honestly went better than I expected," Bellamy exclaims cheerily. "Remind me not to get on your bad side, though."

  
Before anyone else can speak Lexa interjects, "Nia knows."

  
And just like that the room drops into silence, the air of relief and gleeful pride evaporates.

  
"How can she know?" Raven's eyes dart around the room, trying to find an answer on one of their faces—- and then darting her gaze back to Lexa. "How do you know she knows?"

  
Lexa tosses her Clarke's cell, the message still pulled up.

  
"'She knows.'" Octavia reads aloud over her shoulder, her nose scrunching up. "Who taught Roan to be so fucking ominous, I mean use more words dude."

  
The room once again fills with a steady stream of bickering and raising voices. Raven and Octavia suddenly dive into a discussion on the latest report on the walls and how much force they can withstand. Jasper and Monty start arguing over the table about whether acid is too dramatic. Bellamy begins listing added security measures that need to be added to the manor and to Clarke and Lexa's personal guards, he seemingly muses to no one in particular about whether they should be removed from the compound entirely.

  
"Are you sure?" Clarke quietly poses the question at Lexa but everyone else immediately stops speaking and focuses their attention on the pair. Almost as a group, their brows pull together and confusion sweeps across their faces.

  
"It would certainly keep her from danger." Lexa shrugs as if they were speaking of the weather, not someone's life. She begins to pace the short length of her end of the table, her bottom lip catches between her teeth, weighing options.

  
"Or," Clarke returns, "It could put her in that much more."

  
The rest of the room catches on quickly, not to what they're talking about, but realizing that they're only hearing half of this debate, the other part of it is going on in their heads.

  
With no sort of warning as to what made up her mind, Clarke is at Raven's side and slipping the phone from her grasp. As she dials she walks to Lexa's side and waits for their once good friend to answer.

  
"Clarke," comes Roan's gravely voice, the growing smirk audible in his tone, "what trouble have you gotten yourself into this time, eh?"

  
She catches Lexa nodding her head just inside her peripheral so when she replies it's both of them speaking through her.

  
"She's ours." And then she disconnects the call.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like the new chapter ^_^

  
March 2008

 

Clarke stands in the middle of the hallway separating the operating room from the rest of her basement. Council members stream in and out of doorways and passageways on either side of her. She should move, she's in the way but she isn't sure she could actually get her legs to listen so she's forced to be the unwavering island in a sea of Shifters.

 

Snippets of the conversations around her make their way through her fog.  _I've never seen that many in a single pack_. _How did they get so close to the walls with tripping the alarms?_ _Could someone have known that the younglings were the only ones out patrolling? Thank the Gods that Lexa and Clarke survived_.

 

It's only been two hours but someone has already cleaned her off and forced her into some clothes, she isn't sure who. The last time she looked down she saw blood-soaked fur and now she sees pristine clothes and it feels _wrong_. Clarke's fingers itch to tear at the fabric and dig until her skin gives way to coat so she can run. Away from this house and away from who she is when she's inside it. The familiar weight of the helm hanging just under her throat makes it all the more difficult. She thinks she's going to be sick.

 

She's mourned people before, she's felt as if the world would swallow her up from the pain. Death is never easy, especially for the people it leaves behind. Yet, she's never felt guilt. When her father and grandfather died she knew there wasn't anything she could have done to stop it. But this, this is on her. It's crawled inside her bones and taken control of her heart and all she wants is for this to be over, for her reign to end. Because right now, the guilt is threating to tear her apart and she might just let it.

 

Lexa must sense her despair because she looks up from where she and Octavia are huddled in the corner near the operating room. Red rimmed green eyes bore into Clarke's. She wonders what she finds there, can she tell how the blame is choking her? How it's taking all of her will not to collapse and never return? She does because Lexa turns and murmurs something to O before she rises and makes her way through the milling people to Clarke.

 

"Clarke, you need to breathe honey." A gentle, familiar hand reaches up as if to smooth back her hair but when she catches the moment out of the corner of her eye Clarke flinches and moves back. Shock fills Lexa's face and if she let herself see it, a little hurt.

 

"I can't." Clarke is barely able to gasp it out before her body is moving on its own accord. It wheels her around and pushes her until she's running through the hallway and out into another. She passes Bellamy and Jasper and Monty sitting together as she goes but cannot bring herself to look their way.

 

She runs up staircases and darts through passageways until she's three stories about the chaos, above her entire family. Or at least what's left of it.

 

The attic opens wide before her. Windows dot the far side of it but it's too dark outside to provide any light. Clarke turns toward the panel beside the door as she enters and presses the tips of the fingers of her left hand onto the scanner and waits from the machine to recognize her. With a small beep, it drops the lock screen and reveals a multitude of demand options. She presses roughly on the one that will soundproof the room. Silently, barriers hidden in the walls slide and fit together until they're airtight and allow nothing through.

 

The young Spirit walks to the center of the room as calmly as she can—- and then she screams. And she howls and she throws discarded furniture into the reinforced walls and she sobs and she begs with her head tipped up for the Gods to release her. Clarke pounds against one of the support beams until her fists are bloody and her fingers broken. She flips a table she knows survived hundreds of years across the room and watches it splinter as it lands.

 

She's acting foolishly like a child, but she cannot bring herself to care or act as one of her station should. So much has been torn from her today and she cannot see how she'll ever heal from it. It was her fault. It's her duty as her people's leader to keep them safe, to help them live long, prosperous lives. She had promised them so much more than seventeen years.

 

She smelled his death before she saw it or heard his last guttural whine. Even amongst the fighting, the smell of his blood flooding the forest floor overwhelmed her. Wells' throat caught in a Twisted's iron jaw. His jugular must have been severed, and with a violent shake, he fell to the floor, limp and lifeless.

 

That should have been her first warning. She should have screamed and ordered and growled until the party retreated. She should have pulled every last one of them out of there by their tails if she had to. Now, two hours later she can see so many other options and she hates herself for not thinking of them sooner. Her grandfather's voice was ringing in her mind, reminding her that a retreat is never an option. That one must stand their ground and fight no matter the consequences. For the first time in her life, she thinks Fayheda was wrong.

 

She wouldn't have even noticed Maya had lost her battle, she was always so quiet, unless Jasper hadn't howled as if he were the one dying—- and if Raven hadn't suddenly cried out and then fall horrifically silent.

 

Clarke doesn't remember much after that. After they had been dragged back to the house and were within the safety of their compound's walls Lexa gripped her cheeks with her palms and thanked her for saving the rest of them, that she'd never seen anyone tear apart a pack like Clarke had. Shame she has no memory of it.

 

Two of their own died today and a third could be joining them soon. There were whispers through court when Lexa and she received their thrones that they weren't ready, that they would cause the species' downfall. Deep inside her crumbling mind, she knows it was just Nia trying to cause an upset, trying to turn enough packs on their side that she could grab the upper hand. But what if she had been right?

 

Only five months into their ascension and she's already failed.

 

It startles her when a voice echoes through the room. Pulled out of her absorption she realizes that at some point she had returned to the center of the room and had sat. She can't remember how long she's been in the attic.

 

"Clarke," Lexa calls again through the intercom. She's the only other with the right fingerprints to unlock the system. "Raven's out of surgery and Mama says it went as well as we could have hoped. She'll be waking up soon—-" Clarke can practically see Lexa's face in her mind. The lip caught between her teeth, the slight wince around the corner of her eyes as she says something that she wishes she didn't have to. "I know you wouldn't want to miss that."

 

It takes another five minutes for Clarke to remember how to get herself to her feet but she eventually does and begins to make her way through the wreckage of her pain. She reaches the door but hesitates, presses her forehead to the old wood. A sob threatens to roll through her but she chokes it down and forces herself to wrench open the door separating them. Lexa gasps.

 

Clarke doesn't need to glance down to know how she looks. Blood must be splattered across her previously clean shirt and drying in streams down her arms. Her eyes seem wild and cheeks tear-streaked. She probably looks feral. Which is good because that's exactly how she feels. Not to mention the room behind her is utterly ravaged.

 

"I can't talk about it," she manages to whisper as she makes her way around her mate and down the flight of stairs.

 

 

July 2017

 

 

"So," Octavia draws out, eyes widening, "that was a ploy right? But I mean, if not she's totally hot so I get it."

 

"She's not actually ours," Lexa replies. "We just needed some time to figure out what we're going to do. At least until she wakes up and she remembers what she saw."

 

"And there's that other fun thought." Clarke perches herself on the end of the table so all but Lexa cannot see her face.

 

"There's something else?" Monty and Jasper question as one.

 

"We're worried that if once she's stable enough for us to take her to a human hospital, someone from either Azgeda or even our pack will go silence her," Lexa reasons.

 

"Well," Raven sweeps her hand to refer to the group, "just let us know what you need because we're in."

 

 

 

"Be careful," Clarke reminds him—- again. "Bellam—- Be careful. Bellamy!"

 

"Oh my Gods would you take a pill?" he hisses back at her. "I can carry her without you berating me. I have carried many a girl up these stairs."

 

Clarke shoots his back a glare but chooses not to comment. Lexa giggles behind her.

 

The three of them traipse up the staircase that leads directly into the family side of the house. Dark wood lays under their feet and beside them as panels on the walls. Photos and paintings hang on either side of them of the ancestors that once lived in the manor. 

 

"Why are you putting her on this side of the house again?" As they reach the top landing they have to do a little dance around one another to keep the many lines attached to her and the bags Clarke and Lexa carry from tangling. "Wouldn't it be better to put her in a different wing?"

 

"If she stays near us then a, we'll be able to check on her through the night without traipsing across the house and b, we'll be able to keep a better eye on her once she's awake."

 

Bellamy hums his approval and throws a playful grin over his shoulder. "Lexa Griffin, you are a smart cookie you know that?"

 

Lexa chuckles but still strikes up with her bare foot to hit his backside. Now Clarke's glaring at her.

 

With the sound of their voices carrying down the hall one of the doors squeaks open just enough to allow a small blonde head poke through. With a gasp, the pup exclaims, "Is that her? Can I meet her?"

 

Clarke snaps and points her index finger at her daughter. Rousing her best Abby Griffin impression her scolds her, "Charlotte Mae." Only needing her daughter's name to elicit a reaction.

 

"Yeah," Charlotte mumbles before retreating back into her room the door clicking behind her.

 

"We're going to have trouble keeping that one away," Lexa says with a light giggle. She bumps Clarke with her hip and shakes her head as her smile grows. "An exact replica. Gods help us I don't know how our parents did it."

 

Clarke glares at her again.


	5. Chapter 5

July 2017

 

 

Eyelids flutter, the dim light coming from above is painful until her eyes grow used to it. The first thing she sees is the ceiling, the first thing she feels is a throbbing in her side. Costia swivels her head to take in the room to find a blonde woman sitting beside her, seemingly engrossed in a book. She stares dumbfounded at her until the woman glances up and does a double take when she finds her staring back.

 

A blinding smile stretches across Clarke's face at the sight of the woman awake. She barely knows what to say until she realizes that she looks frightened, for obvious reasons.

 

"Oh hey," Clarke begins, "This is all probably pretty scary. I'm Clarke. My wife Lexa and I found you in the woods behind our house, you were in pretty bad shape."

 

Almost as if she were called, another woman she assumes is Lexa enters the room with an equally wide smile.

 

"How are you feeling?" Lexa asks gently.

 

It takes Costia a moment to gather herself enough to respond but her throat is dry and she can't make anything out. Before she can ask, Clarke is up and out of her chair, crossing the room to a dark wooden dresser to pour her a glass of water.

 

After accepting the offered glass and taking a few sips she speaks. "What happened?" and then when she thinks more clearly, "Where am I?"

 

"Our dog had run off into the woods that line the back section of our property and was howling his head off." Clarke easily prattles off the story they had come up with, not once breaking eye contact. "We figured he had just found a bird or was bothering a doe but he wouldn't stop so we went down to get him and found you."

 

Lexa picks up where Clarke leaves off, "You were in pretty bad shape, I don't mean to scare you, but we didn't have a lot of time. Between the two of us," she motions to Clarke, "we were able to carry you back up to the house but there was no way we were going to get you to a hospital, we're two hours away from the closest one, so we had to patch you up ourselves—-"

 

"We're pretty much out in the middle of nowhere," Clarke interjects with what she hopes is a soothing tone, "but my mom is the town's doctor and she's been teaching me since I could walk."

 

"Okay," Costia looks like a deer caught in headlights, "and what happened to me?"

 

She scans the room as nonchalantly as she can, Clarke and Lexa instantly pick up on the movement. Whether looking for an exit or a weapon they're unsure.

 

"The bite," Lexa motions to her own side, "looks like a bear. We're thinking Razzy scared it off before—- well."

 

"Oh, sorry," Clarke's brows furrow, "we're so rude. Whats your name?"

 

Costia studies the pair for a few breaths, has to rely on her instinct for whether or not she should trust them. "I'm Costia. I guess I should thank you for saving my life.

 

Clarke makes a motion as if to say it was no trouble. Despite it being a lot of trouble.

 

"If your mom's a doctor why didn't she come herself, no offense because I'm alive so you obviously know what you're doing but—- ?" Her words peter off into a hanging question.

 

Lexa scowls suddenly and huffs heavily. "One of the Riley boys, " she rolls her eyes, "drove an ATV into the phone line and everything was down until the next morning."

 

"My mother refuses to buy a smart phone and insists that everyone call her on the ancient landline that's been in that house since Reagan was president." She smiles at Costia and winks as if she's letting her in on a private joke. "I did a pretty good job though if I may say so myself."

 

Clarke stands again and begins to check on the bags and monitors that Costia only now realizes hang above her.

 

"Do you have any family or friends you want to call?" Lexa asks, moving to Clarke's previous place beside the bed. "Now that you're awake it shouldn't be long until you're well enough to move."

 

"No," Costia murmurs distractedly, "there's no one. So other than the bite, am I going to be okay?"

 

Lexa and Clarke are dying to question her over the lack of emergency contacts but refrain.

 

"Well," Clarke starts, back to her calming voice, "there was a pretty bad gash on your leg." She pulls back the sheet just enough that Costia can see the white bandage that runs from mid-thigh to her knee. "It was pretty deep but everything was repairable and with some rest, it should heal. You also had a small concussion and a few bruised ribs. Honestly, it was the blood loss that had us worried more than anything. But your levels are rising nicely. All in all, you'll be fine. Everything's just going to hurt for a while."

 

Costia suddenly giggles, startling the other women, a hysteric bubble rises through her chest. Her bruised chest smarts but she can't make herself stop. The shifters trade a worried look but by the time either of them decides to react, the outburst fades.

 

"Sorry," Costia says, "Sorry—- Uhm I think I'm just a little overwhelmed. I didn't think I'd gotten that far off the trail and then suddenly I'm waking up in a strange house with people I don't know. I might be freaking out a little."

 

"Of course you are," Lexa replies, "I'm pretty sure that's the healthy, normal reaction to something like this happening. Can I ask you, were you out hiking? There aren't any trails or cabins out this way, it's all private property."

 

A hum of suspicion crosses between Clarke and Lexa. Not necessarily at the woman but certainly at the circumstances.

 

"Yeah I was doing the flat's pass, I remember getting off the trail to look for somewhere for my tent but that's about it," Costia says. "Do you know how far we are from there?"

 

Lexa doesn't want to tell her that they're a few days walk from the trailhead so she just nods and says, "A little ways, you must have bumped your head harder than we thought. Did you have gear with you, because the only thing we found you with were the clothes you had on?"

 

Costia's face falls. "I had a pack and a tent. My wallet and my phone were in there too—- Do you think it could have gotten dragged away when the bear was run off?"

 

The guards had already combed the area, nothing belonging to her was out there.

 

"Maybe," Clarke shrugs, "I can go down in a bit and take a look, it was pretty dark when we found you so it's certainly possible."

 

Just as she finishes speaking the sound of the back door opening and three pairs of feet trickle up to them. Then, loud enough to reach even human ears, a babble of voices begin to rise in volume.

 

"Sorry," Clarke smiles bashfully, "those are our friends, who were apparently raised by wolves. I'll go get rid of them."

 

When she brushes past Lexa she squeezes her arm but makes no other sign of acknowledgment.

 

The pair is silent for a moment, the only sound in the room the beeping of Costia's heart monitor.

 

When Lexa can't stand it any longer she rises and begins to tidy the already spotless room. Over her shoulder, she asks, "Is there anything I can get you. Or anything you need? And if we're totally freaking you out we can probably drive you to the hospital tomorrow. Sorry, I know this is a lot."

 

"No it's fine," Costia sighs with a small chuckle. "You and Clarke are both seemingly normal and nice and I've always been too trusting for my own good so it's not you guys. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around what happened before you found me. I could have died."

 

"But you didn't," Lexa turns back to give Costia her full attention, "and that's what you need to focus on."

 

 

"Why are you all so loud?" Clarke grumbles at the sight of her friends rummaging through her kitchen, hands on her hips. "Costia's awake by the way, which means that I need every s-h-i-f-t-e-r out of this house."

 

As one Raven, Octavia, and Jasper turn to her with open mouths and wide eyes. And then, again in sync, "The human's awake?"

 

They at least had the good sense to whisper but that doesn't stop Clarke from shooshing them and ushering them out of the kitchen and out onto the back terrace. Grey stone rests under their feet and runs the length of the house. It's then that she notices that they're all wearing clothes from the chest they keep beside the door to the inside of the house. They all ran here. A no shifting policy was going to have to go into effect until Costia was gone.

 

"Yes, she's awake," Clarke says, "but she doesn't remember anything about her attack so we should be in the clear. I do need you guys to go though, we can't have anything odd going on around here—- Oh, and no shifting until we get her out of town, okay?"

 

In response, she gets a few complaints and several pleas to let her meet the human from Raven but in the end, they all relent and promise to act as normal as any of them can around Griffin Manor—- for now. After giving her permission for them to shift one more time they undress. With a rustle of clothes, they each drop to their wolf form and scamper down the wide set of steps and off across her property.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you guys liked the new chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I made a playlist to go with this fic so check that out if you want:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/user/caztg678/playlist/1Xd6uqhfsoxKkqyvgUAV8V

Costia wakes to the sound of hammering. Or maybe not hammering? A constant cracking. It sounds like wood striking wood repeatedly but it's too far away for her to get a lock on it, she presumes outside the house.

 

For the first time, she takes in what of the view beyond the line of windows on the wall closest to her she can see. She can just make out the tops of a long line of tall pine trees, they stretch as far as she can see. Behind them lies a towering barrier of mountains, reaching up into the sky. She assumes she's at least on the second floor based on how little she can actually make out.

 

She wallows in self-pity for longer than she would care to admit. She hasn't had another dose of what ever painkiller they're giving her since Clarke woke her around midnight to check her vitals. Her side hurts. Costia hasn't seen Clarke or Lexa since then. The clock on the nightstand beside her bed reads seven thirty so it shouldn't be long until someone comes to find her.

 

As she lies there in silence, save for the continuous sound from outside, she tries to wrap her mind around all that she has been told since she awoke in a strange house. It feels almost like a nightmare. How does something like this just happen to someone? All she had wanted was a break from her life, a week away from all the outside world took from her. Never once did she think that on the first day of her camping trip would she nearly be killed by a bear and saved by two, admittedly beautiful, women.

 

Her thoughts are interrupted when the door to her room creaks open just enough that a small blonde head can fit through. A huge dog towers behind her, it looks like an overgrown German Shepherd but with pitch black fur. If this is the dog that scared off the bear, she can definitely see how it would have won.

 

The girl looks over her shoulder and into the hallway before turning back to face her with an excited smile.

 

"I'm Charlotte," she starts, chest puffing out with an air of importance, "but everyone calls me Char. What's your name? Mama and Ma won't tell us."

 

Costia isn't sure who 'us' is but she assumes Charlotte is referring to siblings. Maybe that's why they took her in with such little thought. They have kids, it was a mother's instinct.

 

"Nice to meet you, Char," Costia greets her, "but if your moms haven't told you I'm not sure I should. They probably have a reason."

 

Charlotte looks like she's going to argue, a tiny crease forms between her brows as if trying to come up with what she's going to say. Vaguely, Costia realizes that the banging from outside has ceased. Before she can speak, Charlotte faces drops and she whips her head to look back out into the corridor at some sort of cue that Costia doesn't notice.

 

"I have to go."

 

And then Costia is alone again.

 

It's not long though until Clarke is knocking on her door and making her way in, with that signature 'how's the patient doing' smile on her lips. She tells her she's fine but the bite on her side is starting to hurt again. Clarke creases her brow, looking suddenly exactly like Charlotte, and she sets to work adjusting her medication.

 

"Your daughter's cute by the way," Costia chuckles, "I take it she wasn't meant to come in here by how secret agent she was. And that dog could definitely scare off a bear, so thank him for me."

 

"Charlotte." She says it like it's an explanation unto itself. "I hope she and Rasputin didn't wake you, she's been itching to come meet you. And apparently, when every young Griffin girl sees a rule she also sees an opportunity to break it. I'm sorry."

 

"No it's fine, I was awake. She was sweet—- She also looks exactly like you."

 

Clarke presses on a new bandage as she speaks. "Yeah her sisters do too, we have three—- Charlotte, Tallulah, and Ophelia, but Char especially."

 

"Also," Costia cocks her head and tries not to smile too widely, "Rasputin?"

 

Clarke rolls her eyes with a burdened sigh but her face turns soft, affectionate. "That's what happens when you let a three-year-old name a dog. It's why we call him Razzy."

 

"That's amazing."

 

For the first time since they found her, she looks genuinely happy.

 

Clarke laughs and continues taping her side.

 

 

The Griffin Manor is shrouded in darkness as Bellamy bounds up the front steps and through the wide door, giving a nod to the nightblood on duty, Vee, before entering. He easily makes his way through the house and up a staircase and into Clarke and Lexa's bedroom. He sends a silent plea that neither of them will put up too much of a fight to the Goddess before reaching Clarke's side of their bed and shaking both of their shoulders.

 

Clarke whines. Lexa moans.

 

"Come on ladies you need to get up," he smiles down at them happily. Annoying anyone with the last name Griffin will forever be his supreme pleasure.

 

"What time is it?" Clarke forces out between fake sobs, her voice muffled.

 

"Three in morning. Seriously though," he kicks the bed frame a few times, "You have to get up."

 

"My Gods Bellybutton," Clarke presses her face further into her pillow. "Why is it so early?"

 

"Okay first of all, if you don't stop calling me that I will feed you to a Twisted." His tone is serious but Clarke knows better. "And second, a pack of ten just got taken down about a quarter mile from the wall."

 

That many? Together? It grabs her attention, and Lexa's who is just barely as awake as Clarke and struggling to keep her eyes open.

 

"I've been calling you Bellybutton since I was seven and you have yet to take action, I refuse to stop now." She speaks with a grunt as she weakly pushes him away and rolls from the bed, grabbing her discarded shirt from the floor. "Are they coming?"

 

Lexa grumbles and mews weakly a few times but Bellamy nudges her bare back with his foot from across the bed enough times that she relents and rises as well.

 

"Just the heads," Bellamy answers. He knows they both need to hear it but are too scared to ask so without prompting, "No casualties on our side."

 

The air relaxes around them.

 

Clarke is dressed first and out of the room and down the hall to wake Charlotte. She'll have to sit in on this, listen and learn as much as she can. Lexa finishes wriggling into her jeans and follows Bellamy when he makes his way out and towards the main stairs.

 

With a jerk of us thumb over his shoulder he asks, "What are you going to do about Costia. Do you think we'll wake her up?"

 

Lexa weighs it for a moment before looking up towards the ceiling and calling out, "House?"

 

A quiet beep is all she receives in response.

 

"Sound proof the Skai room." There's another beep and they know that up the stairs and down the hall, plates within the walls are beginning to shift.

 

  
"Char, baby you need to get up," Clarke murmurs gently, a hand rubbing on her daughter's chest. A far more pleasant wake-up call than the one she received two minutes ago.

 

"What's wrong, Mama?" Charlotte's voice is groggy and thick with sleep but she sits up despite that, squinting blearily at her mother.

 

"There's a council meeting and you have to sit in on it."

 

Clarke draws her into her arms so she can wake up further on the walk down to the study. Charlotte presses her face in Clarke's throat and waits until they're at the top of the stairs to speak.

 

"I didn't get to go to the last one," she grumbles, sounding years older than she is. Clarke has to choke back a laugh, they are exact replicas.

 

  
By the time any other council member arrives, letting themselves into the manor once searched by a guard, Bellamy, Clarke, and Lexa are positioned around the war table with graphs pertaining to the rise in Twisted numbers and Charlotte is sat in a corner on an old leather chair, her legs twisted up beneath her.

 

Everyone nods in her direction, respect shown to their future leader. The five-year-old's presence is not uncommon and they think nothing of her hearing what they are about to say.

 

"I've never seen anything like this," Kane starts when everyone is gathered and the doors have been closed.

 

"Neither have I," Aurora Blake states. "We've never had packs like this get so close to the wall before."

 

"And how exactly did that happen?" Lexa questions. "They should have tripped the sensors long before they were spotted."

 

Raven half sits, half leans on the table, a sweatshirt that's too big to be hers swallows her frame. "We don't know yet, there's a team looking into it but the problem seems to be that there's nothing actually wrong with them."

 

"We need to fix this," Clarke says, "now. Honestly, I think we should have seen this coming. The number of Twisted in our territory has been growing for years." Spinning to face the other side of the table she points her next words to Monty. "Is there any way to track where they're coming from? I don't mean their den, but where they were created?"

 

Monty processes her words silently, his hair sticks up every which way. "We could use the satellite, yeah. Track them with their specific heat signitures—- I think. Let me look into it, yeah?"

 

Clarke nods her assent.

 

"I don't like this," Abby shakes her head from her place beside Lexa's parents, Xav and Serena. "I know you girls don't want to hear it but how does a human somehow make it across a mountain range and to our walls, without tripping the alarms, at the same time that we begin to see an exponential rise in Twisted trying to get into the compound? I just think we need to look into this more."

 

"Mama Griffin's right," Bellamy states, "somethings way off about this. I'm assigning more guards to you two."

 

"Dude, you just put extra guards on us yesterday," Clarke says.

 

"Dude," Bellamy replies in the same sarcastic tone Clarke had used, "I don't care, you're still getting more."

 

Clarke and Lexa roll their eyes.

 

"I just don't like knowing that she's in this house with you, and with the girls," Serena motions to Charlotte. "There could be some sort of ulterior motive. I think the two of you forget how important you are, you're leading an entire species, you need to take care of yourselves."

 

"Moms," Lexa huffs out, using the collective moniker that developed for Abby and Serena while they were growing up, "Costia isn't a threat, she barely survived the attack. What could she possibly hope to gain by being here?"

 

"She checks out by the way." Anya pushes herself off of a bookshelf and towards the others, looking better than anyone rightly should before seven a.m. "Her story about hiking and everything. We found her car at the trail head and a hotel room close by. Her bank accounts look normal and there's no fishy family background. The girl seems innocent enough. Couldn't find the camping supplies she mentioned, though. Even after I had Alex run the entire thing."

 

  
"Okay," Clarke groans thirty minutes later, the early wake up starting to really get to her. "Raven's team is going to work on the sensors, Monty is going to see if we can track the mutts, and Lexa and I will try and get some more information out of Costia, maybe she'll remember something."

 

Everyone nods and murmurs their agreement. With that, the high members of the Arkadian Council begin to trickle out, exchanging goodbyes. On his way out with Raven and his mom, Bellamy turns and reminds them, "More guards!" before leaving.

 

Lexa chuckles wearily, he's like an overprotective mother hen. She guesses they've given his enough reasons to be though. With a tired shuffle of her feet, she makes her way over to Charlotte and picks her up and places her on her hip.

 

"Back to bed, pup."

 

They trudge up the stairs together, their bodies tired but their minds spinning with thoughts.

 

"Why did Uncle Bell give us more guards?" Charlotte asks from her place in Lexa's arms. "Have big Twisted packs never come near Arkadia before?"

  
Of course she listened. She always did.

 

"Not since—-," Clarke tips her head and locks eyes with Lexa.

 

"Not since what?" Her little voice rising.

 

"Not since Great Grandpa Griffin and Grandpa Griffin passed," Lexa replies.

 

They step into their room, agreeing without words that it would be easier to just have Charlotte bunk with them for the night. Lexa places her on the bed and joins Clarke at the dresser to dig for pajamas.

 

"The human's name is Costia," Charlotte hums sleepily, smiling at their backs, Lexa with her shirt half way off and Clarke with a pair of shorts in her hand, both frozen.

 

They wince in unison. Damn, they'd forgotten about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone guess what might be going on? Thanks for reading!! Please let me know if you're liking it


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